Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/907

* CLAIMS. r;i9 CLAIRAUT. The Court of Claims of the United States (which has served as a model for those of the several States) was croatod by act of (.'ongress, February 24, 1S55. and consisted originally of three judges api)intcd by the Prcsich-nt and Senate, to hold (illuc during good hcliavior, and to have jurisdiction to hoar and determine all claims founded on any act of Congress, or on any regulation of any executive department, or on any contract, express or implied, with the Government of the United States; and all claims which might be referred to it by either House of Congress. The Government was to be repre- sented before it by a solicitor and assistant solicitor apjiointcd by the President; and the compensation of all members of the court was lixcd by law. By the act of March I!. IStil?, two additional judges were to be appointed by the President, and a Chief Justice from the whole number of judges (five). By this act the coiirt was also authorized to take jurisdiction of all set-offs, counter-claims, claims for damages, liquidated or unliquidated, or other demands whatsoever on the part of the Government against any person making claim against the Government in said court. If the judgment of the court be in favor of the Government, it shall be filed in the ollice of the clerk of the proper district or circuit court of the United States, and shall i;<.so facto become and be a judgment of such district or circuit court, and shall be enforced the same as other judgments. If the judgment be in favor of the claimant, it is pro- vided that the sum thereby found due to the claimant shall be paid out of any general ap- propriation made by law for the payment of private claims, on presentation to the Secretary of the Treasury of a duly certified copy of such judgment. In eases where the amount in con- troversy exceeds .S.'iOOO, an appeal may be taken to the Supreme Court of the United States at any time within ninety days after judgment. Where the judgment or decree may affect a constitutional question, or furnish a precedent atlecting a class of cases, the United States may take an appeal without regard to the amount in controAcrsy. Claims must be filed within six years after the claim accrues, except in cases of disability. The court is required to hold one session annually, commencing on the first Mon- day in October. The jurisdiction of the court is not to extend to any claim growing out of any treaty with foreign nations or Indian tribes, xinless such claim was pending in said court December 1, 1802; nor shall the jurisdiction of the court e.x- tend to any claim against the United States for the destruction, appropriation, or damage of any property by the army or navy engaged in the suppression of the Civil War, from the com- mencement to the close thereof. The general principle characterizing all the legislation re- lating to this court is that its jurisdiction is confined to claims arising out of contract or for damages in cases not founding in tort. Accord- ingly, the Supreirie Court of the I'nitcd States has held that a person injured by the tort — that is, by the wrongful act— of a Government ofiicer or agent, cannot obtain redress in the Court of Claims, but must apply to Congress for relief. It has also been held, by the same court, that in order to obtain a recovery upon an implied contract, the claimant must show that the Unit- ed States received a consideration for the claim presented, or that they received money or prop- erty with a duty to turn it over to the claimant, or that the claimant had a lawful right to it when the United States received and apjjropriat- ed it. Tlie statutes provided that claims of the character above described may be recovered whether or not' they are such as would be prose- cuted in a court of law, of c<iuity, or of ad- miralty if the United States were suable; but the actions in this court are not actions at com- mon law, and therefore the claimant has no right to a jury trial ; nor does this court pos- sess the jurisdiction and powers of an equity tribunal. The court has declared that it has never felt itself bound by the strict rules of common law or of equity pleaditig and practice, but that its aim is to administer justice be- tween the claimant and the Government in a simple and expeditious manner. Proceedings originate in the court by petition filed ; and tes- timony used in the hearing and determination of claims is taken by connnissioners who are ap- pointed for the purpose by the court. Consult, for full information, the United States statutes and the digests. For the organization and juris- diction of similar tribunals constituted by tliem, the statutes of the several States must be con- sulted. CLAIKAC, kla'rak'. A toA™ in the Depart- ment of Lot-et-Garonne, France, situated on the Lot, Iti miles northwest of Agen. It has a trade in white wines. Clairac is interesting as the first place in the south of France which, in 1527, embraced the doctrines of the Refornuition, on the example of its abbot, Gerard Rouselle. It was the scene of frequent contests between Roman Catholics and Huguenots. Population, in 1891, 3502; in 1001, 2880. CLAIRAUT, kla'r6', AiExis Cl.ude (1713- G5). A prominent French mathematician, physicist, and astronomer, born in Paris. He showed a precocity analogous to that of Pascal. At the age of ten he read ITIopital's works on infinitesimal analysis and conic sections ; be- fore he was thirteen he presented a memoir on curves to the French Academy of Sciences; at sixteen he published his first work, on curves of double curvature, and at eighteen he was elected a member of the Academy. In 173G he was appointed to accompany Maupertuis on an expedition to T.aplaml, for the ))urposc of meas- uring a degree of the meridian — a work which proved, contrary to the o|>inion of Cassini, the flattening of the earth toward the ooles. Shortly after his return, in 1743, appeared his Thcorie de la fif/ure de la terre, based on Newton's law of gravitation, and on JIaclaurin's results con- cerning homogeneous elliiisoids. In the field of mathematics Clairaut studied curves of the third order, tortuoiis curves and ])rojections, and was the first to find the shifiuUir solution of a dif- ferential eqiiation of the first degree in x and y. The equation used by Clairaut, often called Clairaut's form, is y = px -f f(p), in which p =y^- In physics he first showed the neces- sity of considering the attraction between the parts of the fluid itself, in order to explain the phenomenon of capillary action; computed the change in gravity at high latitudes, and so fully demonstrated the figure of the earth that little